I Remember
by The Girl With Glass Wings
Summary: John and Dave discover a strange girl crying in a strange medium that popped up out of nowhere. This girl has something... off about her. Something isn't right. No. Something is clearly wrong. Who is she and why is she here?
1. The Crying Girl

**_Before I begin…_**

 ** _If you cannot handle: OC's, Language, Blood, Violence, Alcohol, Clinical Insanity, and Death._**

 ** _LEAVE NOW._**

 ** _This is probably my darkest story yet and I do take this one very seriously. This is focused mainly on my OC who is very much based on me. In fact, this character is pretty much exactly me with a few things changed about the back story and mental stability. I would appreciate you taking this one seriously as well but if you've got comments or questions then by all means ask them. I'm willing to answer questions and comments but if I see something I don't like in my comment section I claim all rights to remove it._**

 ** _This story takes place in my personal AU world where nobody has died but all of the humans and trolls have met each other and are helping each other through the game. Everyone will be aged by about 2 years so that they can be a little older so that it's much easier for me to write._**

 ** _This is not a story for the younger audience. If you are under the age of 13 please don't read this and if you're above the age of 13 please read with caution._**

 ** _Fight scenes are going to be somewhat (depending on your definition of the word) graphic so if you cannot handle it, please leave._**

 ** _If you cannot handle things such as thoughts of suicide or mentions of attempting it, please leave._**

 ** _If you cannot handle mentions of mental instability and fits of clinical insanity, please leave._**

 ** _If you cannot handle the deaths of characters you love of any kind, please leave._**

 ** _If you cannot handle strong language used by some characters, please leave._**

 ** _If you cannot handle mentions of liquor or drinking, please leave._**

 ** _If you cannot handle certain pairings or pairings with my OC, please leave._**

 ** _I do not claim to own any of the characters other than Caitlin and Chris because everyone, besides the previously mentioned, belongs to Andrew Hussie. I do not claim to own any of the worlds, besides The Land of Mirrors and Memories, because they also belong to Andrew Hussie. I do not claim to own any of the TV shows, animes, songs, or products mentioned, watched, sung, or used during this story because they all belong to their rightful owners._**

 ** _This story will stay rated at T unless I decide that it needs to be moved to M._**

 ** _Thank you for taking the time to read my notice and I hope you enjoy._**

 ** _~~The Girl with Glass Wings :D_**

 ** _Update: This was the only way I could figure out how to do this so here it is! There is a link to Soundcloud that has the demo on it in my profile. Just copy and paste it into a new tab. Make sure to comment about what you think!_**

I Remember...

John's POV:

We found her there. Crying, no she was bawling her eyes out. A girl sat in front of a large mirror that appeared to be imbedded into the base of a large tree with strange yellow colored bark. Her small hunched over figure shook with heart wrenching sobs. Her medium shoulder length hair fell over her shoulders, and what looked like a hair piece was thrown precariously next to her left leg. Her small ivory colored hands covered most of her face that was buried in her lap as she sat there. I could make out soft pink lips pulled back as she cried out revealing a few snow white teeth. Her white shirt was a little baggy on her which revealed that she hadn't eaten in a very long time. Her lemon yellow knee length skirt had flared out from, when I could only assume, she fell to her knees. Her black converse shoes had a rose pattern on them but appeared dusty, as if she'd been exploring all sorts of places. Her wrist had a strange looking bracelet with Dave's Time Gear Symbol as its charm. It looked like the gear could be turned if she twisted it. I took note of the rapier that rested on the ground in front of her. The blade was stained with almost every color of blood you'd find in both the trolls and the humans. A rainbow of fresh and dried blood seemed to have spooked Dave just slightly when I see him notice as well.

Dave and I shared a look and slowly started walking towards the young girl. I accidently kicked a small rock which made a loud rustling noise as it brushed past the tall blades of grass. The girl gasped out loudly at the sound and looked at us quickly. Her silver eyes were drenched in tears that were paired with a small nose and a few freckles dotting her nose. Her dark dirty blonde hair swayed over her shoulders as she whipped her head towards us. She gave a horrified look, and began to crawl backwards on her hands, dragging her body with her so that she wouldn't break eye contact with me.

"Well now you've gone and done it, John. You scared her," Dave said to me with an annoyed sounding voice. The girl still would break her eye contact with me as she listened to Dave speak.

"Not the time, Dave," I snapped back quickly before addressing the girl, "Uh… sorry about that. I'm John and this is Dave. Who are you and why were you crying?"

She stiffened at my questions but seemed to realize that she was still crying. She hesitated to answer but did eventually.

"I….I'm Caitlin… and it's not… not important…" She responded with a cracking voice. Due to her crying it seemed to mess with her voice that seemed like she would have had a voice as sweet as sugar. I slowly walked up to her, avoiding a few roots from the tree, and accidently tripping over one of them, but eventually was able to reach out my hand out to her.

"Here! I'll help you up," I said nonchalantly. Her bright pink cheeks stained with tears were visible to me along with the most beautiful pair of silver eyes I think I've ever seen. They glistened in the light with her tears and were surrounded by red puffy skin but even so this girl was absolutely beautiful. I hoped she had a personality to match it. She visibly relaxed and reached her small dainty hand towards my larger one. As I got a better look at her hands, there were calluses like Dave's. Her hand was soft like silk in my rough hands which also had calluses from my hammer. That thing's heavy you know! I quietly wonder to myself where she got those calluses on her hands as I pull her up onto her feet. She was roughly 5'1" or 152cm for the metric users like Jake. I can see Dave walk up to us with his usual 'I'm cooler than you' thing when he meets someone new. He started dropping that for me since he's known me for so long.

"So now that you're done panicking, I think, I'm Dave," He says a little rudely. What's his problem? He pushes his shades up a bit on his face, "John I think we should take her back to everyone. Something isn't right here. This girl shouldn't be here."

Caitlin looks down at the ground and a few more tears escape her eyes and she drops my hand, "I don't mean to… I don't mean to be problem, Dave. I wouldn't want to cause trouble. I…I…"

Caitlin backs away from me a few steps and starts to shake. She puts her hands onto each side of her head over her ears. Her fingers tangle into her already messy hair and she starts to breath rather heavily. Then something weird happened… she glitched. Her body disappeared and reappeared within seconds with her sobbing sounding distorted and ranging between volumes. She releases her head and looks at her hands as they glitch around then look to Dave and I. Dave takes a step towards her and she freezes up. Her eyes snap to Dave before she bolts into the other direction, grabbing her bloody rapier as she ran.

She pushes herself through the brush until I can't see her anymore screaming out, "Stay away from me! I'll only hurt you!"

"What the hell," Dave breathes out, clearly shocked by the girl's reaction, "We should go after her. Something isn't right."

Right at the moment I got a Pester from Karkat.

"Shit. You deal with him while I chase after Caitlin. It's probably best we don't lose her. Catch up when you're done," Dave called as her took off running after the small girl.

 **-carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling ectoBiologist [EB]—**

 **[CG]: HEY FUCKASS. SOLLUX SAYS THAT SOMEONE NEW JOINED OUR SESSION SOMEHOW. YOU SEEN THEM?**

 **[EB]: yeah actually just now Dave and I saw her. She's so small but she has to around our age. She seemed pretty freaked out by us.**

 **[CG]: SHE? IT'S A GIRL? OK I'LL GO TELL SOL. IS SHE WITH YOU TWO BULGDE LICKERS?**

 **[EB]: no she just ran away from us. Ask Sollux if there are any glitches in the system.**

 **[CG]: GLITCHES? WHY THE FUCK SHOULD I ASK HIM THAT?**

 **[EB]: Dave and I think she might be one. She just glitched out just now and then ran away. Dave and I are going to go chase after her.**

 **[EB]: speaking of which I really need to chase after her so I've gotta let ya go.**

 **[CG]: HUH. RIGHT. JUST KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON THE GIRL.**

 **[EB]: yeah yeah :B**

 **-ectoBiologist [EB] ceased being trolled by carcinoGeneticist [CG]-**

I slid my phone back into my pocket and ran through the ruined shrubbery after Dave and Caitlin. She couldn't have gotten that far right?


	2. The Wind and Time's New Friend?

**_Update: This was the only way I could figure out how to do this so here it is! There is a link to Soundcloud that has the demo on it in my profile. Just copy and paste it into a new tab. Make sure to comment about what you think!_**

Chapter 2:The Wind and Time's New Friend?:

Dave's POV:

Jesus this girl can run.

I kept a close distance between myself and Caitlin. The bushes and tall grass is one thing but to have to weave around the abnormally colored trees was just getting ridiculous. She's pretty light on her feet too. She barely makes a sound, whereas I'm over here making as much noise as humanly possible as I run through her ridiculous maze of nonsensical shrubs and… mirrors? What even-?

 ** _SMACK_**

"Stupid god damn tree…." I growled as she somehow managed to derail me into another tree. The bark was blue. Like sky blue… wait there's someone's name engraved into the bark. There's a gold rimed mirror seemingly attached to it and the glass is fogged over to where I can't see my own reflection. I look up and read the name and can't believe what I'm seeing.

"JOHNATHAN EGBERT"

John's name is engraved into the wood above the mirror. Even his Breath symbol is carved in just above his name. Why? That's just… creepy. So creepy. Oh crap the girl!

I whip my head around and scan the area for the blonde haired mystery on legs. I catch a glimpse of a shadow move behind a deep red tree opposite of the sky blue one. I will my legs in the correct direction of the scared girl slowly. She makes no attempt at moving out from behind the tree that I see clearly labeled "DAVID STRIDER". The mirror was rimed with a purple-ish metal that was shiny and looked like something from Derse. What's with these freaky mutant trees anyway?

"Look uh… can you just come out? We're not going to hurt you and we know you won't hurt us," I tried to calmly say as I approached my tree. I got a shy, tiny voice in response.

"But I will… I just," She started but trailed off soon after. I heard a small sigh before one of Caitlin's slim ivory colored legs slide out from behind the base of my fire red colored tree. She has a guilty look across her face as if she was apologizing for running. She keeps her back firmly pressed against the tree to stay as far away from me as she can. Her clothes are more ruffled now from her mad dash and her dirty blonde hair has a twig sticking out of the back of her now messy hair. How ironic that the girl, who probably knows this land better than anyone, would still end up looking like she tripped and fell off a cliff.

"Alright now that you're done with the whole running away business, mind me askin' what that was about," I question. She looks at the ground and doesn't give me an answer. I push my shades up and take a careful step towards her. She flinches but makes no moves to run so I keep walking slowly until I'm roughly 4 feet away from her. She keeps her head down and won't look at me. She places her hands on the tree behind her giving her a cornered rat look. Guess I'm the cat huh? I did kinda snap at her earlier so I don't blame her for being scared because of that but the whole glitching think threw me off the deep end into a giant pool of "What the fuck".

I sigh before speaking again, "Look. I didn't mean to scare you ok? I just want to know who you are, why you're here, and what the glitching thing was about. Would you please just look at me? You're making me uncomfortable with all your silence and looking down."

Whoa where did that come from? I did not mean to say that out loud. Why-

I was snapped out of my thoughts when she squeaks out a laugh. She breaks out into a smile and tries not to laugh, "Well It's nice to hear your true thoughts. Sorry I did that to you."

What is she talking about? She made me say that?

"I know you're confused, Dave. I'll try to explain to the best of my abilities but we should wait for John to find us before I begin," she claims with a quiet voice. She must be scared to raise her voice or something. Wait John! Where is he? Karkat couldn't have possibly kept him that long right?

"AHA! I found you!"

I jump at the sound of a loud voice from above and look up. I see John flying just above the trees looking down at us with his usual derpy smile. He floats himself down to us and lands behind me, "You found her! That's great!"

Caitlin shifts her weight entirely onto the tree to keep herself upright. She looks really conflicted but I wonder what on. Did something happen to her involving John? I shake the thought quickly as John walks up to her causing me to take a step back from Caitlin so that he could see her.

"We didn't mean to scare you, Caitlin. I don't know what happened but don't worry. You don't have to explain yourself. I just want to be you friend! Will you let me," John asks happily as he reaches a hand out to the girl. She looks reluctant but soon smiles lightly and takes it.

"Thank you, John…," she whispers. John squeezes her hand comfortingly, and I place a gentle hand on Caitlin's shoulder. I brush her hair back with my fingers. Damn her hair is softer than it looks. I catch John's gaze and he's grinning like an idiot. Typical Egderp. Caitlin's soft smile grows as she relaxes. I can feel her shoulders relax under my hand and she seemed to lean into my touch a bit. I notice something about her smile as she exchanges small talk with John. Things like "hello" and such. She's missing a tooth. Her front lateral tooth in between her front teeth and her K-9's was missing. It gave her this innocent kid look that, in all honesty, suited her well.

How cute.

Caitlin's POV:

John and Dave are just like I remember. Looking the same as last time we met. Nothing changes.

John's warm hand is wrapped around my cold one, and Dave's large, even warmer hand is on my shoulder. I couldn't help but lean in. Take whatever warmth you can get right?

"Alright, now that he's here, spill. You said you would," Dave presses. I look at my feet before slipping down onto my knees and sitting on the ground. I pat the ground in front of me and lean my back onto Dave's tree. The boys sat down quickly. Dave childishly wrapped his cape around himself like a blanket, and John laid on his stomach with his head propped up with his hands and hi feet kicked up into the air.

"Let's see. I'm Caitlin Ewing, and I'm 15 years old. I can't answer the second question because I honestly don't know how I got here or for what reason. I was in my room playing this game called SBURB by myself when suddenly a meteor came out of nowhere. I freaked out and bumped into my desk which made my crystal sphere that I'd own since I was little, fall off and shatter. A bright light flashed and POOF! I was here. I can't explain the glitching either because I don't know. However, I could put you in danger if you're near me when that happens so you need to get away if it happens again," I explain to the best of my abilities. I decide to stop my explanation as to not freak them out or make things worse.

God if they knew what I've done…

"Come on. Let's get you back to everyone. I'm sure Sollux and Karkat want to meet you," John enthuses while standing up and grabbing my hand again. Oh god… Karkat's gonna rip into me again like he did that one time. I can only hope Equius is there this time. He broke up the argument last time. Sollux was more than intrigued to meet me, but Karkat didn't like me being there at all. Calling me a dirty glitch and saying that I'd only cause more trouble for everyone. But if John said that Karkat wants to meet me, then it won't happen again right?

Dave seemed to notice me tense, "I think we should take her back but we should stay with her."

John gives him a confused look, "Why? It's not like those two are gonna kill her or something."

Ouch. Ok that one hurt, John. You don't even know the extent of what those two have done do you? Of course not. Why would he?

"True but I'll stay with her. I'm not sure Karkles likes the idea of her being here thought so better safe than sorry, right?"

"Alright it's settled then! Come on! Let's go home," John smiles happily while squeezing my hand again. He's still so innocent. I can't believe what I've done to him in the past.

I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry John…


	3. Meeting The Others

**_Ok I have a quick note! Sorry to disturb! I'd personally like to thank the user Koniax for reviewing my story on both chapters! It really does mean a lot to mean that you're enjoying this! I am an irregular uploader so chapters could come in-between a few hours of each other to a couple day or even weeks. I will try to upload as much as possible because this is going to be a pretty long story so thanks for bearing with me. Thing are a bit slow right now but they'll pick up… soon ;D_**

 ** _Due to my summer break starting a few days ago, my uploading schedule should become more regular but I do have some online classes I have to take so we'll see. Thanks for your patience._**

 ** _On to the story then!_**

 ** _~The Girl With Glass Wings_**

 ** _P.S. There is a bit of cursing this chapter. Read at your own risk. Don't forget to comment for spelling mistakes or just your thoughts on the story!_**

 ** _Update: This was the only way I could figure out how to do this so here it is! There is a link to Soundcloud that has the demo on it in my profile. Just copy and paste it into a new tab. Make sure to comment about what you think!_**

Meeting The Others

Dave's POV:

Welp. That could have gone better.

 _~Flashback~_

 _Before we stepped through the strange portal to her medium, we had Caitlin put her rapier away. The dried multicolored blood stained onto the shining metal surface would scare the trolls if they saw it. She'd handed John her sword for safe keeping since she claimed to be afraid that she was going to scare everyone if she had weapon on her person. We stepped through the portal separately since it was a pretty small one. John went first, then Caitlin, then myself._

 _My feet plant onto the ground again right as John starts talking._

 _"_ _Welcome to our humble abode, Caitlin," John claims excitedly as we're dropped into the designated living room of the meteor. Sollux, Karkat, Tavros, Gamzee, Rose, Jade and the others were in the living room as well. They were expecting us apparently._

 _"_ _About fucking time," Karkat rudely greets us from his spot. He gets up and walks out into the middle of the room towards Caitlin, "This is the glitch?"_

 _"_ _Karkat! That was rude," Jade retorts from her seat. Karkat looks back at her and frowns._

 _"_ _Anyway. Welcome Mith….," Sollux lisped expectantly to the girl, standing from his laptop and holds out his hand politely. Almost too politely… and what was with that welcome? He'd say "sup" or something._

 _"_ _Oh, um.. I'm Caitlin," the girl in question responds, and places her hand in Sollux's. A slight pang of jealousy rang through me, but I pushed it down. Her tiny hand slides into Sollux's much larger one, but something's wrong. You could hear the skin tear as if something has cut into it very deeply. Her face contorts to one of pain and she gasps out. She rips her hand out of Sollux's and steps back a few paces. I can see a grin spread across the douchebag's face._

 _"_ _Tho. You're actually a living perthon huh? I had it thet in my mind that you were an NPC or thomething," he chuckles and holds his hand up. On his palm are tiny pieces of glass attached to clear tape around his hand. I look at Caitlin's hand and see that she's bleeding from the tiny incision the glass had made. I quickly grab her hand and bring it closer to my face to examine it. They're deeper than I though. I think I could see Caitlin starting to grow faint at the sight of her own cheery colored blood, and movement out of the corner of my eye._

 _"_ _Sollux! What the hell was that for? She didn't do anything to you," I hear Karkat's gruff obnoxious voice shout._

 _"_ _I wath tethting thomething KK. I had to figure out if thith wath a part of the game or thomething that we need to eliminate," Sollux respond with irritation. I don't look up to see the facial expression because I'm a bit too busy trying to detain that blood that is dripping out of her cuts. The bright red liquid slowly turning darker as it starts to pour out of the wounds faster. Jade, Rose, and Kanaya are at my side quickly. Kanaya take's Caitlin's hand from mine and examines it. She shares a nod with Rose before said girl briskly walks off. Jade and Feferi were shushing the panicking Caitlin gently in hopes of calming her down a little. I nearly gag when her blood drops off her fingers and splashes onto the floor making a disgustingly beautiful drop mark._

 _"_ _Shh… It's ok. It's just a few cuts. Rose is getting the medical kit. We're going to get that fixed up and Sollux will quit being an ass, ok?"_

 _Rose returns from her hunt and the girls begin leading Caitlin to the bathroom around the corner. I would have gone with them if I hadn't wanted to put my two cents into the argument currently taking place between Karkat, John, and Sollux._

 _"_ _Sollux, what the hell was that?! You just harmed an innocent person for no reason," Karkat shouted._

 _"_ _What doeth it matter," Sollux counters and walks off with his arms crossed over his chest. Deciding that it was in my better interest to make sure Caitlin was ok, I walked out of the living room silently and unnoticed._

So yeah. That's what happened.

I was on the way to the bathroom that the girls dragged our new injured friend to, when Caitlin ran into me. Our bodies crashed into each other, and she landed a few feet from me. Keeping my cool I stood up and reached my hand out for her. Her fingers and been wrapped in pure white bandages that were starting to seep through with blood. The deep red crimson color staining the pristine whiteness of the wrappings from her fingers slowly began to heal underneath.

"S-sorry….," She whispers shyly. I notice that she doesn't seem want to meet my eyes anymore, or shades in all honestly. Shit did Sollux scare her that much?

"Nah it's fine. Your hand ok?"

"Yeah. It's not that bad," she replies and hides her wrapped up hand behind her back. Oh hell no, am I not playing with game with her.

"Sure it isn't. Let me see it," I sigh out.

"Dave really it's-"

"Caitlin."

She flinches and shies away slightly. She thinks for a minute, and keeps her hand behind her back before sighing. She nods, and brings her hand out from behind herself to her side. I slowly reach my own hand out and brush it against her upper arm. Her arm is colder that it probably should be. It's probably from blood loss. My fingers trail over her cold, smooth, ivory colored skin. I didn't have a chance to notice earlier, but her upper arm has tiny red bumps across them, and what looks like tiny scars in the shape of circles.

I trail my fingers farther down her arm to her hand, carefully taking it in mine. It's still so much smaller than mine, and it feels wet from her blood seeping through the bandages. I don't say anything as I bring my other hand up to hold her injured hand as well. I use my left hand to hold her hand in place, and then I use my right to trail my fingers lightly over the bandages. I study it closely in the silence between us with an expressionless face. Why the fuck would Sollux do this to someone he just met!? She's so small and soft…

"Um… D-Dave? Are you ok," Caitlin's voice floods into my ears suddenly and snaps me out of my thoughts abruptly.

"Oh um.. Yeah. I'm fine," Shit Dave how the hell was that even remotely cool?! Jesus I hope she didn't hear that screw up.

She interrupts my thoughts again when she starts… giggling? Is she laughing at me?

"Seriously Dave, I'm fine. I've had way worse injuries then this," She smiles at me. She doesn't pull her injured hand out of mine, but covers her mouth with the left one. She laughs warmly, "I like them. All of your friends seem so nice. Even the one that hurt me. I know he didn't mean it in a mean way."

Ugh. I can't tell her she's wrong. Cool guys don't crush girl's happiness so I'll play along for her, "Yeah. They're pretty nice. The girls seem to have taken liking to you already so that's good."

"Really? There were these two girls with horns that were standing by the door. One had a blue hat and the other one had a robot arm. They didn't seem to care about the blood or the injuries but they still seemed concerned. It was really sweet actually!"

Really? Even Vriska was with the girls? I mean, I kinda would have expected Nepeta but damn, not Vriska. The world is all sorts of weird today. Weird portals popping up out of nowhere, weird new girls, and Vriska caring about someone she's never met.

What is this girl doing to us?


	4. The Hands Of The Clock Turn Backwards

**_Hey I'm back! I'm sorry this chapter took so long! My computer was having issues regarding the keyboard so I had to get a new one. I promise that updates are going to happen more frequently I just have to deal with my online classes to the side._**

 ** _If I had written the story using my old keyboard it would look like this: "She l;opopked oput opver the l;ava with eyes that copul;d chal;l;ange the stars in beauty as they shopne in the firey oprange l;ight./"_**

 ** _As you can see it would have been a nightmare for me to edit along for you to read. I'm currently using a wireless keyboard I got from Wal-Mart._**

 ** _I hope you enjoy! Don't forget to comment spelling and grammar mistakes or just your thoughts on the story so far. It really does let me know I'm doing a good job!_**

 ** _I'd like to thank the 7 people who followed and the 3 people who favorited my story personally because that makes me giddy to know people enjoy this enough to stick around! So special thanks to: BoredUrugauyan, Koniax Hyasen, LilMissJJ, Natsueal, Seal of Doom, Silverfox4242564, and StarryNightStorm. You guys rock!_**

 ** _However now that I've thoroughly wasted your time and patience, let us move on to the story~_**

 ** _~The Girl With Glass Wings~_**

 ** _Update: This was the only way I could figure out how to do this so here it is! There is a link to Soundcloud that has the demo on it in my profile. Just copy and paste it into a new tab. Make sure to comment about what you think!_**

The Hands Of The Clock Turn Backwards

Caitlin's POV:

 _Oh god… Not again… Please god no…_

I stood in the field of my medium; my hands covered in blood. There was only one left standing. Karkat looked at me from about 500 feet away. All the pain, suffering, regret and anger swam through his eyes. His hands clenched around his multicolored sickles. He looked down slowly at the body of his moirail in disbelief, quietly whispering something under his breath to the body of his moirail. His eyes were filled with red tinted tears the slowly slipped down his face. His breathing was rough and panicked.

I had had his bicolored glasses in my hands. They were cracked to all hell and were beginning to make my hands ooze the bright red blood I had in my body. Karkat looked sickened at the sight of 14 broken, bloodied, and very much dead bodies of everyone he knew. His moirails. His enemies. The god forsaken humans that he aggressively cared for. Gone. My most recent victim's glasses in my hands. The last one I had killed.

"Why… why would you do this to us…," his voice was weak. His hands were trembling in a mix of fear and anger. He raised his tear filled eyes to mine. My soulless silver eyes pierced his with a pure look of madness. I clutched my rapier in my right hand and dropped Sollux's glasses from my left.

"Because why not Karkat? I've been stuck here in this never ending loop. I go in. Something goes wrong. You all die. Everything resets. Never fails. In fact, as soon as I kill "Mister Cool" behind me everything will reset. He built this specifically to do that," My voice wavered in volume as I pointed to Dave behind me. He was out cold at the moment and tied to his life tree. He did this to me….

"WE FUCKING TRUSTED YOU, AND YOU DARE BLAME THIS WHOLE DAMN THING ON HIM? HOW DARE YOU," Karkat screamed at me. He lunged at me, his sickles raised. I blocked him with my rapier casing sparks to fly as the two metals met. I growled lowly, as he swung at me again. His sickles making little noise as it cut through the air towards me. I dodged his onslaught of attacks and swung my sharp blade at him. I could hear the blade of my sword cut through her grey flesh. His cheek getting stained with his candy red blood as my rapier gained a new blood color to its sliver blade. The mustard yellow blood slowly became over stained with cherry red blood. Karkat backed away for a second, holding his cheek in his hand lightly before taking it away. He looked like he was going to faint at the sight of it but held strong and swung at me again.

 _No please… I don't want to see this… Please don't make me see this again!_

Karkat swung at me again, a terrifying battle cry leaving his black colored lips as it missed me narrowly. I ducked low onto my knees and thrusted my blade up. It pierced straight through his chest. His eyes shot open even wider as his tears fell down his cheeks faster. You could hear his chest tear as my blade went straight through his heart. He choked up his cherry red blood and fell over. A loud thump echoed through the silent air as he landed in a heap on the ground. Karkat looked up at me as I stood with eyes that didn't show anger or fear. His eyes showed me his sadness and forgiveness.

"WHY?! Why are you looking at me like that? You're dying but you don't look remotely angry," I scream at him, my eyes becoming damp with my crystal clear tears.

"B-because fuckass… Y-you can fix this… I…I know you'll c-come back to your fucking senses… the next time, Caitlin…," He coughed as he spoke his voice slowly becoming more faint as the last of his tears slipped down his face. I laughed at his comment with a huge grin that rested on my features. But suddenly it clicked. What was I doing…? These people… these people who put all of their hopes, dreams, and faith in… I killed them all in a blind mad rage…

I let out a sob at his words and my tears spilled over onto my cheeks. He smiled lightly up at me, showing his bloodstained teeth. He knew he'd snapped me out of my mind's sudden madness.

"K-Karkat… no... Please no…," I sobbed as his eyes slowly closed and my voice fell on deaf ears.

The twitching muscle in his chest that my blade had been lodged in ceased its movement as Karkat died in front of me.

"No please… Karkat please open your eyes…," I fell to my knees and brought his head, still stained with fresh blood, onto my lap, "I… I'm so sorry… I didn't mean to-…. I just wanted to-….. I JUST WANTED THIS TO END! I t-thought that if I killed everyone then Dave's bracelet would give up on me… I just want to be happy with my friends again… I just… I just want…"

I was struggling to breathe. My neck began to close up, and my eyes stung as my fat wet tears fell down my cheeks. Karkat's face, although bloodstained, looked like he was only sleeping in my lap. I covered my face in my bloody hands as my body shook with my wretched sobs. Until I could feel a warm touch on my wrist and carefully guide me into a warm chest.

"That bracelet isn't going to give up. No fucking way, Caitlin."

That voice… the person who I wanted to kill last. To make suffer. He was here. He held me to his chest and rocked me slowly, whispering sweet nothings and promises of better times into my ears. However I couldn't hear him. All I could hear were the final words everyone had spoken to me before their deaths.

"I… I was shore we were going to be friends… I couldn't kelp it… I'm sorry Caitlin…"

"Wwe wwere your friends… wwhy…."

"And I motherfuckin' thought I was the crazy one here. Guess I was motherfuckin' wrong my wicked sis…"

"You… You are and exceptionally STRONG fighter girl…. Too bad we couldn't have been friends…."

"Damnnnnnnnn… t-that's a lot of blood… never thought you had it in ya, Caitlin…"

"I guess justice doesn't prevail this time….huh Caitlin?"

"You look like a rainbow drinker with all that blood on you… I w-would have been glad to have made you s-something new to wear…"

"W-we could have been purrfect friends… W-why couldn't you just lay down your claws and let us help you…?"

"Thit… Guess I thhould have expected thith huh? I thhould've never truthted you… You dirty glitch… I thought I wath your friend."

"C-Caitlin please…. D-don't kill us…. I uh… I wanted to be y-your friend…."

"G-guess you're the one who gets to have a corpse party this time…"

"L-looks like I get to go see Grandpa... Right Caitlin?"

"Even after all the psychoanalysis I did on you I thought I could've helped… I was wrong wasn't I?"

"C-Caitlin…? I… I know you're still in there… Please come back to us… I m-might be dying but… please… come back to us…"

Dave gently took Karkat's body off of my lap and moved me into his own. He kept rocking me and reached down for my wrist, "Caitlin. I trusted you with this for a reason. You have to take care of it. Do it for us. Your next run I'm sure will be the final."

Dave took my bracelet into his hands and used his slim tanned fingers to twist the gear.

"W-wait Dave stop! What if I mess up again? I can't do this! I-," Dave cut me off with a kiss to my forehead. He picked me up and placed me in front of my life tree. The one that was separated from the other trees. Once I was on the ground, he took a step back as the world around me began to change, and Dave slowly vanishing.

"DAVE! NO! DON'T LEAVE ME AGAIN," I screamed, scrambling to my feet. But I was too late. He was gone.

The timeline was reset.

I fell onto my knees, dropping my bloodied rapier to the ground next to me and cried.

"Dave… he… he believes in me… they all do…Dave… DAVE!"

My eyes snapped open and I was lying in my room on the meteor. My eyes damp with tears. My mouth was open slightly and I knew instantly I had called out something in my sleep. I rubbed my sleep filled eyes with my bandaged up hand quickly as footsteps approached my door. A gentle knock let me know that whoever was there was asking to be let in.

"You can come in…," I say to not wake anyone else on the meteor. Dave pushes my door open and slides inside my room. He closes the door behind him and walks over. He was wearing a red t-shirt and black basketball shorts that stopped at his knees. His sunglasses were on his face although I already knew what was under them.

"Ok so I'm not dream expert but if I can hear someone shout in their sleep that means something's wrong. What's wrong? Nightmare I'm guessing," Dave sits down at the end of my bed, rubbing his eyes under his shades tiredly.

"Y-yeah…," I say knowing that I couldn't hide it. I would never tell him what happened though. Never.

"That's what I thought. Want to talk about it or do you want me to leave?"

"N-no… but stay here…," I shyly respond. I don't think I could handle another nightmare.

"M'kay."

Dave flops over and drags me down with him. He wraps an arm around my waist which pulls me to his chest. I cover my face with my hands and groan. He cradles my head with his other hand and holds my head to his chest.

"R-Really Dave? This sis embarrassing! L-Let me go," I whined. Dave just chuckled and keeps me closer. God he's always so embarrassing!

"Nah. You're warm and I've already laid down so you'll have to deal," He smirks down at me and places his chin on top of my head. I can feel him reach up, and remove his shades from his eyes. I try to look up to see them but he keeps my head in place and I can practically hear the challenge in his voice, "No peekin' darlin'."

"Whatever…," I close my eyes, listening to the gentle sound of Dave's heart and lets it lull me to a restless sleep. I can only hear one thing before I fall asleep.

"I didn't think you were so fond of me to actually call out my name in a panic. One day and you trust me that much? Damn."


	5. The Not-So-Hope-Filled-Song

**_Hey everyone! So I got a PM from someone asking me what my real name is so I'm going to share it with you all now. Or at least to the people who even bother reading these._**

 ** _My name is Sadella. And yes. That is my name. People used to say, "Sadella? That can't be your real name." Well it is. It's pronounced Sade-Ella. Just like its spelt! You guys can just call me Sade though. ^^ Nice to meet ya!_**

 ** _Also, in the upcoming update I'll be posting a sound file or a link or something that will have myself reading this story like an audio book for those of you interested in following along that way or just want to gear what Caitlin's voice actually sounds like. I'll either edit a link or whatever into this chapter later or it'll be in the next update._**

 ** _Quick disclaimer: I do not claim to own the song Ever After by Mariana's Trench. That's theirs._**

 ** _Anyway! Let's move onto the story because I'm once again wasting your time again.._**

 ** _~The Girl With Glass Wings~_**

 ** _Update: This was the only way I could figure out how to do this so here it is! There is a link to Soundcloud that has the demo on it in my profile. Just copy and paste it into a new tab. Make sure to comment about what you think!_**

The Not-So-Hope-Filled Song

Dave's POV:

It was morning I think. It's a little hard to tell on the meteor. Wait… this isn't my room…

"What the…," I looked around the room. It was plain. A couple of bookshelves that had yet to be filled, a desk, a bedside table with a lap on it, and an empty closet and dresser. I sat up, seeing my shades on that before mentioned bedside table, and I quickly grabbed them. I placed them onto my face with one hand but my other one was stuck under something. A breathing something…

I look down and see Caitlin on top of my arm. Her body curled up beside mine and her face was pressed into my chest. Her shoulder length blonde hair was fanned out over my arm and the pillow with her eyes softly closed. Her hands were curled up into balls and rested in front of her chest, and her legs were brought up under her to make her look small. My left arm was under her hips, wrapped loosely in a protective manner around her. I didn't realize how tiny she really was until this moment. Up close, I could see a thin, barely noticeable scar on her left cheek that ran from her cheekbone to her ear. Wonder where she got that… it looks like a bow string made it but Equius hasn't been anywhere near her and he's the most likely candidate.

Huh weird. Come on Dave. Think. Why are you in here….?

Oh yeah she had a nightmare. That's what I'm doing here. She never told me what it was about. Eh I'll ask her about it later. But more importantly:

Why does feel like I've seen her like this before… and why do I feel so… guilty…?

I got snapped out of my thoughts when she groaned and shifted a little on my arm. Shit I think she'd waking up.

Her silvery blue eyes slowly opened and I looked away quickly so that I wouldn't get caught staring and pretended that I had just woken up.

"Mornin' Caitlin…," I fake yawned and rubbed my hand over my eyes beneath my shades.

"That's not a very convincing, Strider…" She responds sleepily and looks up at me. Her silver eyes clashed with my crimson ones with my shades stuck between our gazes. He eyes held sleep in them and another emotion I couldn't figure out. God she looks so cute like that… Shit I just met her. I need to calm the fuck down…

"I don't know about you," Caitlin yawned, snapping me out of my thoughts, "but I'm going to go get food."

Caitlin sat up and kicked off the pale yellow blanket that covered her off to reveal the huge purple shirt that Karkat had given her yesterday. The shirt wasn't actually Karkat's. It's Gamzee's. Karkat said that he wasn't really sure that he wanted that juggalo anywhere near her right now until we monitor her mental state a bit more. Now before you start thinking:

"Woah wait Dave are you saying you think she's crazy?"

No. No I'm not. It's just that she did something pretty weird and thinks none of us saw. Well I did.

 _I was wondering around the meteor looking for Caitlin since she'd kinda disappeared a little after my run in with her in the hall. Nobody had seen her since then and it was starting to panic a few people. Myself included, but cool guys like myself would never show it._

 _"_ _Stupid… stupid stupid stupid! Why…," I heard whispered yells from around the corner of the hall, and some loud thumps. I slunk to the wall and carefully made my way down the hallway until I'd reached the corner silently. I took a risky peak from behind the grey wall's corner and immediately spotted Caitlin. She was punching and kicking one of the punching bags in the DIY gym us on the meteor had made in one of the empty rooms. I mean ya gotta stay fit right? I saw something fall from her face that sparkled against the light. Is she… crying again…?_

 _"_ _I… I don't… ARGH," she yells and hits the bag harder, "He…he's… he's gonna be one dead son of a bitch I'll tell you that!"_

 _She cried out, beginning to strike the bag so quickly and fiercely that she almost looked like a monster. Her face twisted into one of pain, suffering, and anger causing her lips to be pulled back into a snarl. Her teeth were clenched, and her eyes glinted with a murderous glare. She was practically a whole new person. An angry one. Her fingers were most defiantly bleeding now since the punching bag was turning red in a few areas._

 _Eventually, Caitlin dropped her knees that were still kinda dirty from her medium's ground. That was probably the first time I'd seen real grass in fuck knows how long. I heard Karkat start yelling down the hall for Caitlin which caused her head to snap over to the door where I, had been. Luckily, I had ducked behind the door where she couldn't see me. She turned back to face forward, slapped her hands on her cheeks so that she'd could almost quite literally slap on a fake smile, and got up._

 _"_ _I'm in here Karkat! The um… the gym room," She called out to the door I'd ducked behind again before pretending to look around. I could see Karkat walking down the hall with a huge purple shirt in his hand. I pretended to have just come out of the bathroom across the hall before he saw me to give myself a reason to have been in the hallway. He passed by me, glaring at me like always before turning into the gym._

Now, I may not be the best judge of what is and isn't crazy considering where I am currently, but that was pretty strange right?

I straightened my shades and climbed off the bed after her. Her back was turned to me so I got a good look at her legs due to the shirt stopping at her mid thigh. They were long but her short stature seemed to refuse to let me believe that. Whoa wait… is that another scar? What the hell?

On the back of her calf there was another thin scar that looked like it'd been made with a sword. A pretty thin but sharp sword. It wasn't a clean cut though so it was probably caused when she couldn't see the object that made it.

Or whatever hit her didn't see her… Now that I think about it, the scar kinda looks like it's about the width of Terezi's cane sword. But that's impossible.

Where the hell did a girl like her get so many scars anyway? She doesn't look like a fighting type at all so it doesn't make much sense. Then there's her bracelet. Why is it my symbol?

"Yo Dave? You ok there," Caitlin interrupted my thoughts, and I realized that I was just kinda standing in the middle of her room spacing out into my thoughts soon after.

"Oh uh yeah. I'm cool."

"Alright if you say so I guess," She shrugged and walked towards the door again, me in tow.

We made it to the "living room" and saw that no one was up yet. Being a man, I am allowed to show off to the ladies. Especially because it'll be cool and ironic.

"Why don't you go wander around and find the observatory platform? I'll make us something to eat," I suggested. Caitlin looked at me in surprise with her big cloudy grey eyes.

"Really? Are you sure, Dave? I can help-"

"No way. Go. I've got this," I cut her off and ushered her into one of the many hallways. I know that the stairs at the end of this hallway lead to the platform so I wasn't worried. She looked a little reluctant, but soon began padding down the hall with her bare feet.

It took me a little bit, but a few burned pancakes the Rose had taught me (sort of) to make later; I was on my way to the platform. I walked up the huge flight of stairs carefully with our plates and utensils; thinking about how fucking cool and ironic I was for doing this. However my steps slowed when I reached the top of the staircase due to a melody floating through the air. Was that… Caitlin?

 **Once upon a time  
I used to romanticize  
Used to be somebody, never mind  
Don't miss it that much now  
I think it's sinking in  
Days that I wonder where I've been  
In picture perfect porcelain  
But I won't lose a pound**

You say I would make a better liar  
And never face the music when it's dire  
And I breathe disaster, ever after  
Don't pull away from me now

Don't you move  
Can't you stay where you are, just for now  
I could be your perfect disaster  
You could be my ever after

 **You could be my ever after, after all  
I could be your perfect disaster  
You could be my ever after**

Hot damn. She's incredible… but I can't help but feel like there is a reason that this song seems to fit her so well… God she sounded beautiful. Nah that's too cheesy. Her voice was like I'd been trapped on some deserted fucking island for years without other people and she was the first voice I'd heard in that time. Something that brought my heart into my throat in shock but sounded so sweet that it was like I'd think I'll never hear it again. It was one of a god damn kind.

 **Apologies, I'm not myself but I can guarantee  
That when I get back, you won't believe  
That you knew me well  
Don't want to think about it  
I'm fuckin' tired of getting sick about it  
Now stand back up and be a man about it  
And fight for something, fight for something, fight for something, oh**

I would make a better liar  
And never face the music when it's dire  
And I breathe disaster, ever after  
Don't pull away from me now

Don't you move  
Can't you stay where you are, just for now  
I could be your perfect disaster  
You could my ever after  
Now you could be my ever after, after all  
I could be your perfect disaster  
You could be my ever after

I carefully approached her from behind with our plates and set them down on the little table John and Jade had moved up here a while ago. She sat on the edge of the platform, her legs dangling off into space but she didn't seem to care. I unfolded one of the folding chairs and set it down quietly to not raise alarm as I listen and began to do the same with the other chair. Caitlin had paused and hummed the melody before continuing singing.

 **Nobody told ya this is gonna fold ya  
We go marching in like toy soldiers  
To have and hold ya over sold ya  
They're marching like toy soldiers**

 **Somehow don't you dare fail, fail me now, ever after  
Somehow don't you dare fail, fail me now, ever after  
Somehow**

(Face the music when it's dire x2)

 **Somehow don't you dare fail, fail me now, ever after  
Somehow don't you dare fail, fail me now, ever after  
Somehow**

(Face the music when it's dire)

 **Once upon a time  
This place was beautiful and mine  
But now it's just a bottom line  
Barely comes to mind  
But ever after was mine**

I'll be your disaster, ever after  
So fire away  
Goodbye

Caitlin finished her song and sighed. She looked out over the black star filled space in front of her before I started clapping. She deserved it. Caitlin jumped and let out a small shriek, turning her head to look at me.

"D-Dave! Jesus you scared me! Don't sneak up on me like that," She let out a breath of relief. Caitlin looked at the table and saw that there was food there. She swung her legs back onto the platform and stood to walk over to the table. She looked over the contents and laughed at my slightly burnt pancakes.

"What's so funny?"

"N-nothing! Nothing at all," She countered and sat down. She had a nostalgic look across her face but shook it away as we ate our breakfast together.

She's so familiar but I just can't seem to figure out why but that bracelet of hers tells me that she knows more than she lets on. I've just gotta get her to trust me enough to tell me.

I do have to keep in mind that she's a glitch though so she might just have it due to that but it wouldn't explain why she hasn't taken it off once yet. Not once! Not even to sleep. I wonder if she had weird glitch powers or something like in that Disney movie from a while ago. That'd be awesome.

Caitlin noticed me get caught in my thoughts again and poked me with her fork, "Jeez Dave, are you always so spacey? Didn't think you'd have the **_time_** to be."

She pointed at my shirt that I noticed had my time symbol on it. Oh if she wants a pun war she'll get a pun war. I started to spout pun after pun because I'm cool like that and at one point eventually had her on the ground holding her sides as she erupted with laughter. It wasn't that bullshit "tinkling bells" nonsense though. She was laughing so dorkishly with a snort ever now and then that it was contagious. I started to laugh too (more at her unladylike laugh then my jokes).

I wish this moment could last forever.


	6. Caitlin Profile Update

_**Hi there! So sadly the new chapter isn't done yet because I've been busy but It will be coming out soon (Most likely tomorrow or Friday so be patient with me). I got a PM from someone a little bit ago asking if I had a profile or something that people could look at to keep track of my character Caitlin. So I took the suggestion and pulled the OC Template for Homestuck Character's off of LarkortheNightingale's Deviant Art Page to make one. A special shout out to them by the way! If you see this "?" that mean that it has yet to answered or that I'm waiting to reveal that to you guys. This is a chapter that will be updated frequently as the story goes on.**_

 _ **Thank you for your time and I hope you learn something new!**_

 _ **If you have any questions about what something means on here or need some clarity PM me please! I'd love to answer your question!**_

 _ **~The Girl With Glass Wings~ (AKA Sade :p)**_

 **Basic Information:**

Name: Caitlin Ewing  
Species: Human  
Gender: Female  
Age: 15  
Derse or Prospit?: ?  
Fetch Modus: Pokemodus  
Strife Specibus: Bladekind and Gunkind  
Weapon: Mainly her rapier but also uses twin pistols from an unnamed source and throwing knifes when needed.  
Game Entry Item (John's apple, Dave's egg, etc): ?  
Sprite (Prototypes, pre- or post-entry, and final form): ?  
Exile (Their name and function pre- and post-exile): ?  
Server Player: ?  
Client Player: ?  
Title: The Sylph of Hope  
Active or Passive?: Passive  
Medium: Land of Mirrors and Memories  
Denizen: ?  
Reason for playing: ?

 **Human-Specific Information:**

Eye Color: Greyish Blue  
Hair Color: Dark Dirty Blonde (often mistaken for brown)  
Skin Tone: Fair  
Symbol (Describe its appearance and how you thought of it): A cracked clock for reasons to be explained at a later time.  
Guardian: Her Older Brother Chris  
Ectosibling(s): None  
Pets: A cat named Jasmine  
Other family (Eg, Jade's grandfather.): Her parents  
Home (Appearance and general location): Normal 2 story house painted white with grey trim. Her room is on the second floor and it faces south in a suburb in Colorado with ridiculous weather.  
Chumhandle: timelockedSurvivor  
Typing style: Mostly formal with good grammar and reasonable spelling and written in a sunflower yellow that she'll change to a gold color if people complain that it hurts their eyes (or noses in Terezi's case but she's never complain. She claims that it smells like a lemon drop candy)  
Sexuality: Straight  
Relationship status: ?

 **General Appearance:**  
Do they need to wear glasses or contacts?: Nope. Fake ones sometimes.  
If yes, are they nearsighted or farsighted?: Both. She has an stigmatism that make one eye see near one eye see far which balances them out.  
They _should_ wear their glasses, but do they always?: Nope.  
Weight: 125lbs/56.6kg  
Height: 5'1"/154.9cm  
Notable features: She has a missing front lateral tooth on the right side  
Hair: Straight with a slight wave and curl at the ends. Her hair is in an a-line cut so the back is longer than the front. The front of her hair reaches just above her shoulders and the back stops at the base of the back of her neck.  
Disabilities/Health Concerns: ?

 **Favorites and Least Favorites:**

Color: Yellow  
Music: Nothing in particular  
Movie: Too many to name.  
Book: Sherlock Holmes  
Food: Anything sweet  
Clothing: She loves to wear skirts and dresses but they get in the way of her fighting style so she mostly wears shorts and a tank top or t-shirt.  
Prized possession(s): ?  
Alchemized item(s): ?  
Other likes/dislikes: Lemonade, Strawberries, The feeling of the wind of her medium in her hair, The smell of rain, The feeling of the sun on her skin, ect.

 **Personality:**

Biggest goal: ?  
Greatest fear: ?  
Darkest secret: ?  
Does anyone know?: ?  
If yes, how did they find out?: ?  
Greatest strength: ?  
Greatest weakness: ?  
Greatest accomplishment: ?  
Biggest regret: ?  
Are they more aggressive, assertive, or passive?: Assertive  
Are they emotional or stoic?: Emotional  
Which do they trust more, their head or their heart?: Heart  
Are they an introvert or extrovert?: Extrovert


	7. The Land Of Mirrors And Memories Purpose

**_Hi everyone!_**

 ** _First off, GOD DAMN! I've been gone a while! I've been super busy with my online classes and then I went on a trip for two weeks without my laptop! I'm sorry I've been gone so long. FORGIVE ME!_**

 ** _I so didn't mean to take this long and with school starting up I was busy. I literally wrote this before I left but I forgot to upload before I left for my trip and got back literally yesterday._**

 ** _Ok so, the link I'll be sharing isn't the whole chapter/story because I'm doing a trial run. I've taken an excerpt from Chapter 3. So if you're interested in the voice over of this story try the link below and if it doesn't work then there's one in my profile that should work. Message me if it doesn't k?_**

 ** _~The Girl With Glass Wings~~_**

The Land Of Mirrors And Memories' Purpose

Dave's POV:

Ok this is just getting creepy. It's been a few days since Caitlin showed up but she seems to know practically everything about us. I mean it's like she's known us forever. She's practically Karkat's best friend, she draws with Terezi, she lets Kanaya dress her up like some doll, she plays fucking Fetus Spawn with Tavros, and that's not even close to all of it.

I'm currently sitting on the couch with Karkat and watching Caitlin laugh her ass off with John after they'd had a horrible back and forth mocking session of each other. I mean sure it was funny but it's just bugging me how much she knows about us. Her impression of John was spot on and she even mentioned John's hatred of Betty Crocker shit. She couldn't possibly know that.

"Dave? Meteor to Dave! How you doing over there space cadet," I snapped out of my thoughts when Caitlin calls to me from the floor. Her cheeks are red from the lack of air from when she was laughing and she had an enormous smile that showed off her missing front tooth. It was the tooth right next to her slightly over bitten front teeth. They weren't as bad as John's but it was noticeable if she smiled like that. The missing tooth was on the right side of her front teeth. It was actually kinda cute. She's pretty self conscious about it though. I should ask her how she lost it later.

"Oh I'm having a blast in space, Cherry Girl," I tease back, deciding to use those red cheeks of hers as the target of my tease.

"Hmpt. Well I was going to ask you, John, and Karkat if you wanted to visit my medium but you seem pretty content in the stars over there so maybe I'll just take them," She says back with a huff. Fuck I think I upset her.

"Hey hey. Don't be mean. I was just joking."

"I know. Are you interested or not? I already asked John and Karkat earlier so we're all waiting on you."

"Oh. Yeah sure. I wouldn't mind going."

"Great! I'm gonna go get dressed then we can all go," She says that so excitedly I can't help but crack a smile. She gets up off the ground, and rushes out of the room to go get dressed.

"Hey Strider? I've got a question," Karkat pipes up once Caitlin's gone. John sits up to hear the question himself but doesn't stand. He crosses his legs in that whatever it's called style with applesauce somewhere in the name and listens with his dorky smile on his face.

"What is it Karkles?"

"First, don't call me that! Second, does anyone else feel like something's wrong with her?"

"What do you mean, Karkat? She seems fine to me," John responds from the floor. Clueless as ever I see.

" Yeah I've noticed a few things. What about you?" I ask, crossing my arms over my ironically cool red t-shirt. Karkat sighs and thinks for a minute before speaking again.

"Like, I don't know, weird things. Like how she know so much about us or that she seems to know her way around the meteor despite her only having been her 3 fucking days?"

I nod and push up my shades on my nose to keep my eyes hidden, "Yeah I noticed. Good to know I'm not the only one seeing it."

"I found it pretty weird that she seems to know exactly what bothers everyone. Like EVERYTHING. She knew Kanaya hates mismatched clothing, Terezi hates those Skittle candy things that have colors that don't match the flavors, or that Rose hates it when her books are messed with. She knows every prank I'll pull before it happens. It's kinda creepy."

Huh. Maybe he's not as unobservant as I thought.

"True. She knows all of our weaknesses but she just met us…," Karkat observes but shuts up when Caitlin comes back in the room. She was wearing a pair of light blue high waist jeans and a pastel yellow shirt with a watch symbol. Kanaya made them for her. Kanaya makes pretty much all of Caitlin's clothes because she doesn't tell the vampire troll to stop. Eh, whatever keep my sister's girlfriend happy I guess.

"Ready guys? We need to go to the portal," She says happily but her smile drops at the serious atmosphere in the room, "Um… Guys? Is everything ok?"

Shit, shit, what do I tell her!?

"Oh I was just asking Karkat why he hates buckets so much," John responds quickly with a laugh causing Karkat to break out in a blush and stand up from the couch. He tackles John and a slur of curses and "you don't want to know" came pouring from his black colored lips. He weakly slaps John's arms since he'd put them up in defense of his face and laughs. As perusal.

"Pfft. Nice John. Well come on," Caitlin laughs herself and buys the lie (We think) then gestures for us to get up.

"Yeah yeah. We're coming," I respond and hold my hand out lazily to her. She rolls her eyes and grabs my hand, pulling me up to stand.

Once Karkat got up, we all headed down the teleport pad that we all had thought was broken until John found Caitlin's medium. We all watched Caitlin get near it and it just "magically" turned on. We don't know what happened but it only turns on if she's near the portal to or from her medium.

"Ready guys? I'm so excited to show you my medium! You're gonna love it," She says and jumps towards her portal. She disappears into her medium and Karkat follows soon after, then John, then me.

Now, going through a portal is a weird feeling. It's pretty quick but you get this moment of just floating in space for a moment and it makes you pretty dizzy if you don't close your eyes. Staring into the inky blackness around as you move can make you nauseous and dizzy. It made John throw up once when he tried it. But just like he is, he got up and laughed about it. He didn't say what he saw but I don't think he liked what he had seen. I've been thinking about trying it but I'm not sure it's worth barfing over.

I feel myself float for a moment as I pass through the portal and then my feet firmly plant on the ground. Perfectly green grass that was about 10 inches tall was what I stood in from the feel and I opened my eyes. My shades blocked out the bright light of her medium as I looked around. The same four trees stood to my left and a circle of twelve trees. Caitlin, John, and Karkat all stood in the clearing between the two circles where the portal was.

"There you are slowpoke! What took you so long? You didn't hesitate did ya," Caitlin laughs and spins around on her heels. Her yellow hightop shoes tear up some of the grass as she turns towards the four trees that were shaped into a small square. There was roughly…mm… 5 feet between each tree and they all have a different color of bark. Blue, Red, Green, and Purple. One for each one of us humans. But Caitlin's human right? Where's her tree?

"We start our tour with these trees! Go ahead and look but don't touch. The mirrors are VERY fragile," She warns and steps over to John's mirror, "This is John's. See how the bark is blue? That's John's color! Then his name is engraved in the bark and the trim of his mirror is gold because he's a Prospit dreamer!"

She sounds so happy as she speaks but she didn't explain the mirror that only showed darkness right now. I decided to ask about it, "Hey so, what does the mirror do?"

She tensed at the question but answers, "Um… it's harder to say then to show."

What the hell does that mean?

We all watch Caitlin move over to stand in front of John's mirror before putting her hands over her heart. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before her fingers began to glow a faint yellow. She opened her eyes half way and reached out to lightly touch her fingertip of her right hand to the middle of the mirror. Karkat and John moved to Caitlin's right side and I moved to her left to watch her actions.

She moved her fingertip in a perfect circle before she whispered something and the mirror cleared up. The mirror showed John at his desk, messaging someone. A small date appeared at the bottom of the oval shaped mirror. Caitlin pulls her hand back and opens her eyes fully, taking a small step back to let us watch.

The date read: 4/1/09

Almost two weeks before we entered the game and John looked at the mirror intensely. He looked pretty freaked out that he was being shown his past. I looked over to Caitlin for a moment while John and Karkat watched the memory.

Caitlin was staring at the ground, a dark look across her face. She sighed lightly before rubbing her arms nervously. Once John remembered the moment being shown, Caitlin clapped her hands together which made the mirror darken once again.

"The mirrors show the entire timeline of a person. Everyone has their own mirror to display their timeline. The mirrors represent that person's entire life force. If the mirror breaks, the life of the person who the mirror belonged to ends completely. Meaning they've died. If they're scratched the mirror heals as the person heals. I know it's complicated and I know that it's creepy but that's how it works."

Our… Life force?

"I'm the guardian of everyone's lives. Watching and helping and healing. I'm a glitch, Guys. The only reason I was brought into the game was because of a stupid mix up with a game file and my computer glitched out and pulled me into the game against my will. I was… I was trapped here in my medium alone until Dave and John found me the other day," She says. I don't think she's telling us the whole truth but I listened. John and Karkat listened pretty quietly too as she explained what happened to her.

I didn't know that she was alone here. But now that I think about it… I haven't seen a single imp. Or some freaky whatcha-ma-call-it animal things.

She was here all alone for fuck knows how long without anyone to talk to. I think.

Caitlin tries to speak again but something in her pocket makes the ding for a Pesterchum message. She pulls a pair of fake hipster style glasses that were flashing. Looks like she prototyped something with her glasses to have a messenger.

She looks at the name flashing on the screen and puts the glasses on, "I'll be right back guys. I need to take this. Go ahead and explore some. I'll only be a few minutes. Just don't touch anything, please! I don't want someone's life messed with! I'll be right back."

She speaks before turning around and running off a ways to take the message. Who the heck contacted her?

Caitlin's POV:

They had to contact me know of all times. Why now? I was in the middle of speaking! It better be important…

-trinaryDraconian [TD] began pestering timelockedSurvivor [TS] at 1:27pm-

…K-Koniax…?


	8. Old Friends and Glitching Horrors

**_Dear god I'm late. I've been so busy and I feel terrible about not getting this out to the point that I don't know what to say. Anyone in highschool, college, and possibly middleschool would probably understand my pain so I won't even try to explain the MASSIVE amount of homework and papers I've had._**

 ** _I'm so sorry._**

 ** _~The Girl With Glass Wings (Aka Sadella)~_**

Old Friends and Glitching Horrors

Caitlin's POV:

…Why…? Why are they contacting me?

-trinaryDraconian [TD] began pestering timelockedSurvivor at 1:27pm—

[TD]: Oh my god it's working! THANK GOD! Caitie are you there!?

[TD]: Caitie!? Answer!

[TS]: YOU! Where the *HELL* have you been, Koniax!?

[TD]: Whoa! Whoa! Hey! Calm down! First off what's wrong?

[TD]: And second off, I told you to call me Kale please. You know I don't like being called by my full name.

[TS]: AUGH! Now isn't the time to argue about your name-

[TS]: ….

[TD]: Hate to burst your bubble, Hon, but…. You literally have ALL of the time you could ever want to argue about that with me.

[TD]: But I'd _really_ rather not please.

[TS]: ….

[TD]: Cait. Please. Don't act like that! You now I hate silence!

[TS]: It's just…

[TS]: Why now…?

[TD]: Why now what?

[TS]: You haven't contacted me since I got stuck in this god forsaken hell hole so why now?

[TD]: I just figured you needed a friend now more than ever. Don't think I can't see your hesitance. Because I can literally see you right now.

[TS]: But you… you abandoned me.

[TD]: No I didn't! I just can't reach where you are! Then the game was blocking me from messaging you for so long but I was able to see you! It literally just let me contact you! Look I don't like being serious.

[TD]: Can we just go back to being friends and could you ever forgive me?

[TS]: ….

[TD]: Caitie?

[TS]: ….

[TD]: Caaaaaiiiiittttiiiieeee?

[TD]: You still there? Come oooonnn! You know you wanna be friends again!

[TS]: …. Fine.

[TD]: AHA! The winner is me! As always!

[TS]: Yeah, yeah, you big goof.

[TD]: I take that as a compliment!

[TS]: *Sigh* … I know you do.

[TD]: How are you doing by the way? I saw that last time line…

[TS]: You… You saw that…?

[TD]: Yeah. And I wanted to check on you. You don't want to end up going crazy like Gamzee in that one timeline do you?

[TS]: No…. You promise that you'll be there for me from now on?

[TD]: Of course! I'm your non-officially-adopted-older-sibling after all!

[TS]: Ahaha. Thanks Kale. That makes me feel better.

[TD]: No prob, Baby Sis~!

[TS]: I'm not a baby! I'm 15 years old!

[TD]: And I'm 19. So you're a baby to me :)

[TS]: *Sigh*

[TD]: We as hope players have to stick together, don't we? Plus your brother would want me to watch over you. Now, What do we stick together like?

[TS]: We stick together like glue. You know, it's annoying how in such a short amount of time you can make me grin like an idiot.

[TD]: It's a talent ^^

[TD]: *GASPS* CAITLIN! You're glitching again!

[TD]: Get away from your friends!

[TD]: HURRY!

[TS]: What?!

[TS]: Shit! I've got to go.

-timelockedSurvivor ceased pestering trinaryDraconian at 1:49pm-

My hands! Oh god my hands! Shit! I need to get away from the guys!

I looked around to find the guys who were talking by John's tree. Good they're distracted! I quickly ran away from them, nearly running into an orange tree with a dark purpleish colored heart symbol on it in my panic. I ran so quick that I didn't notice that I'd glitched two feet to the right which slammed me into a teal colored tree with a Libra symbol.

Damn it Terezi.

I have to get up so I rub my throbbing nose as I stand up but it seems that I caught attention.

"Caitlin? What's going on? Are you ok? Why are you running?"

Shit that's John! I can't let them see me!

"I'm fine just stay where you are! I…I'll um… I'll be right back," I yell from where I was, making John stop I feel a hand on my shoulder before I can do anything.

"And where do you think you're going?"

….Dave…. Damn it he's got flash step in this timeline too?

I would've told him not to touch me but I was too late. I fell to my knees after a particularly painful glitch that moved me five feet to the left and two feet in the air…. And Dave hanging of my shoulder with a glitched out arm. His arm was completely pixelated with it glitching a few inches to the sides every few seconds as we fell to the ground with a thump.

Dave looked at his arm in horror as he shook it around in hopes of fixing it but the sight nearly made me cry.

I did that to him. I glitched out his game data by letting him grab onto me.

I glitched again in a flurry of pixels and fell onto the ground a few feet away as Karakat and John went to Dave's side.

"What in the ever loving FUCK did you DO to him," Karakat shout-asks as John tried to calm down Dave who seemed to be having a silent nervous breakdown on the ground.

"I-I… I didn't… I j-just… I-I t-told h-him not t-to touch m-me…," I tried to reason as my voice fluctuates in volume and frequency between low and high. The glitches making it hard to speak as I was being moved around the space unwillingly as I tried to tell them at least something.

However, I didn't get the chance to explain when John announced that he was going to take Dave back to the meteor for treatment suddenly. Karkat looked at John as he helped the still in shock Dave who had seemed to have frozen completely up off the ground. He shot me one last glare before helping Dave and John back to the portal up the hill.

Once I couldn't see them anymore, I looked down at my hands, blood colors of all kinds staining my hands as the changed and moved as the system began to attempt to get rid of me.

Why?

Because I'm nothing but a dirty glitch that threatens the system.

Over the many, many, timelines I've lived and seen, I've picked up a few ways to save my ass from being killed by the game's built in virus and glitch detection and removal software.

"Voice a-authorization c-code, _Survivor_ , s-system c-command alpha. T-Terminate a-attack."

I stop glitching finally and I can see my hands again rather than pixels.

But that only makes me think.

What about Dave…?

Will… Will he ever talk to me again?

Did I scare him?

Will he hate me?

Can he forgive me for doing that him…?


End file.
